What I am saying is that in order to avoid the appearance of restricting competition, vendors are solicited to ask if they carry an item or provide a service. If they say no, then it is being considered as a "No Quote", this "No Quote" is being used as a quote to satisfy the competition requirements within the agency. The FAR allows us to solicit to a single source, but most agencies still require clearance at some level to document the competition restriction. My issue is that I cannot find any cases or precedence that states whether or not a "No Quote" is in fact a quote. This is important when dealing with reporting, it shows competitive acquisitions that may or may not actually be competitive.
I understand "consider" gives us flexibility, but when it comes to the end result, was the acquisition in fact, competitive?
If we posted a competitive solicitation to FBO and receive only one quote, we are still competitive and met the FAR requirements. In the under $25K world its not clear and I want to understand.